New Monitor - Regular or Widescreen?

[Nightfang]

My CRT has to go. I have had it for 10 years, now, so I think I got my money's worth out of my 17" Panasonic monitor. It has screen burn and cannot get a resolution higher than 1280x960 and still have a decent refresh rate. So, I am going to ditch it and go LCD. Over the past week, I have been doing a pile of research, since I am a heavy computer gamer, so I can make sure I get the right thing for me.

My requirements -
19"
700:1 Contrast Ratio or better
Low refresh (>=8ms)
DVI
1280x1024 Native Resolution

Front runner in my choices for 19" LCD monitor is this ah heck from BenQ -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824014117

Though I have given this one from BenQ a good hard look, also -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824014111

So, yesterday I was at my local computer shop, and talked to the manager there, who has become a good friend of mine over the past year. He of course tried to sway me toward his Acer monitors in stock, but also mentioned I may want to go Widescreen, since many games are going to start going that route.

So, looking again, I run across this -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824168007

Now, I have a problem. With a regular 19" monitor, I get a nice big display with lots of screen real estate, however the widescreen gives me a wider view but isn't as tall as the regular 19".

I am still leaning toward the regular 19" monitors, but I would like to hear what other folks have to say on the matter.

 

[pkme2]

Newegg LG http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824005066

 

[videopho]

The future has already been here long ago...go for widescreen.
By the same token, ask yourself this question, would you buy a new 4:3 tv set today?

 

[Ackmed]

Easy choice, widescreen.

 

[Nightfang]

Cool, I am checking out the widescreen selections now. Next question, though -

I have a GeForce 6800 AGP card in my system. Will it be able to run the proper resolution needed for a 19" widescreen display. 1440x960? I am guessing it is a function of the video card and the driver for the monitor, but I do not know.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Nightfang
Cool, I am checking out the widescreen selections now. Next question, though -

I have a GeForce 6800 AGP card in my system. Will it be able to run the proper resolution needed for a 19" widescreen display. 1440x960? I am guessing it is a function of the video card and the driver for the monitor, but I do not know.

It should run that resolution fine; it's mostly a driver issue, and at most, you might have to add it as a custom resolution...

 

[raildogg]

I was in the same situation you are in a few weeks ago. I looked at screen size and was not too impressed with the 20' widescreen's vertical size. It is as big as a 17' LCD, so that is no good. So imagine how small a 19' widescreen will be. I now want a 19' LCD because its a better buy due to size and a more mainstream resolution.

Plus, 1680 x 1050 is an odd resolution. I'm sure it can be great for RTS games, which I play, but not sure if it'll be good for text reading. I think for now a 1280 x 1024 will be good enough.

 

[Dribble]

Go widescreen, it's so much better then 5:4 LCD screens imo. For normal apps there's lots more space to organise everything. You can view two pages of a document at once. For gaming it's a much more natural shape (for the same reasons as movies look better widescreen). With a bit of effort most games seem to handle it ok. 1650*1050 is a good res - high enough to get a fair amount of detail but not so high you need a mega graphics card to run it (it's about 1/2 way between a 12*10 and a 16*12 screen in terms of pixels).

Like raildog says you've got to minus about 3 inches to get the equivelent narrow screen size (a bit less when comparing to a 3:4 CRT). Personally I got a 21 inch to replace my 18 inch LCD (HP f2105) and fairly happy with it.

 

[cdmccool]

I dislike widescreen. I bought a 19" widescreen monitor from newegg without seeing it in person. I thought the vertical viewing area measurement would be that of a regular 19" monitor and also be much wider. As you know, I was wrong. One of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade from my 17" regular lcd is because I wanted a bigger screen to watch anime on and most of it is in 4:3 ratio. So now, when I watch anime in fullscreen there are these black bars on the side of the picture and the actual viewing area is smaller than my 17" lcd!

So anyway, I'm selling the widescreen monitor and have a 20.1" regular lcd on the way.

 

[Lonyo]

Dual monitors FTW

 

[videopho]

4:3 is on its way out, regardless tv or pc monitor. Most if not all new laptops are now made in widescreen. All PC will have been built/designed toward multi-media in mind anyway so it would be foolish to invest into a 4:3 monitor today only to find out you're way behind the curve. If you're worried about gaming, not to because newer games in the past 2 years are released in widecsreen native modes too.
Keep in mind a monitor is not something you're likely to upgrade every 6 months or a year. It's usually the last component one would like to upgrade in his/her system.
Just my 2 cents.

 

[Sureshot324]

I went with a 20" widescreen and I am very happy with it. It's true that for text reading a tall screen is better, but honestly for text reading screen size doesn't matter much for me. I'd be just as happy using a 15" lcd. Nearly all the tv shows and movies I watch are widescreen and it's better for games too, so there's no question I made the right choice.

 

[fatpat268]

Personally, i prefer widescreen... i have a 20.1 inch widescreen. Sure, the height is equivalent to a 17inch, but the increased screen resolution and widescreen format is worth it.

What I don't get, is why monitor manufacturers are switching from 4:3 to 5:4. What's the advantage of this?

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: fatpat268
What I don't get, is why monitor manufacturers are switching from 4:3 to 5:4. What's the advantage of this?

Mainly because the TV screen format size is going full blow toward 16:9 or HDTV widescreen. Go to BB or CC stores, you do not easily find 4:3 tv monitors anymore. Google it enough you'll see for yourself why?
Let's imagine you go to a cinema to watch a movie in a 4:3 format. In fact eversince the invention of the tv 50 years ago or so, most movies (that are in widescreen native) have to be re-formatted to fit the 4:3 size.

 

[cockeyed]

Go to this LINK to compare sizes. This is a site someone else had referenced some time ago.

For me, a 20" widescreen wouldn't cut it. I use a 19" LCD and the extra height is not something I would want to give up. Friends of mine have 20" widescreens and are ok with them, but went there from a 19" CRT. Personally, I don't like the 20" WS size.

My next LCD will either be a 20" 4:3 or a 23" widescreen which would not lose any height compared to a 19" LCD.

However, the 20" widescreens are selling at a good price and for those who don't mind that size, a bargain can be had. It all boils down to what you like.

 

[drum]

Originally posted by: cockeyed
Go to this LINK to compare sizes. This is a site someone else had referenced some time ago.

For me, a 20" widescreen wouldn't cut it. I use a 19" LCD and the extra height is not something I would want to give up. Friends of mine have 20" widescreens and are ok with them, but went there from a 19" CRT. Personally, I don't like the 20" WS size.

My next LCD will either be a 20" 4:3 or a 23" widescreen which would not lose any height compared to a 19" LCD.

However, the 20" widescreens are selling at a good price and for those who don't mind that size, a bargain can be had. It all boils down to what you like.

nor do I. Thats why I went do a 24" widescreen

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: fatpat268
What I don't get, is why monitor manufacturers are switching from 4:3 to 5:4. What's the advantage of this?

Um...I didn't know that they were. Out of the typical computer monitor resolutions, 1280x1024 is an oddball resolution at 5:4 instead of 4:3. 17" and 19" nonwidescreen monitors use 5:4 because they wan to support 1280x1024. The 4:3 resolution would be 1280x960, but no one uses it for no apparent reason.

 

[Jules]

Originally posted by: Ackmed
Easy choice, widescreen.

:thumbsup:

 

[akugami]

Originally posted by: cdmccool
I dislike widescreen. I bought a 19" widescreen monitor from newegg without seeing it in person. I thought the vertical viewing area measurement would be that of a regular 19" monitor and also be much wider. As you know, I was wrong. One of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade from my 17" regular lcd is because I wanted a bigger screen to watch anime on and most of it is in 4:3 ratio. So now, when I watch anime in fullscreen there are these black bars on the side of the picture and the actual viewing area is smaller than my 17" lcd!

So anyway, I'm selling the widescreen monitor and have a 20.1" regular lcd on the way.

Uhh...pretty much all monitors are measured from the bottom left corner to the upper right. This doesn't change with a widescreen resolution. The height of a 20" or 21" widescreen LCD is about the same as a 17" LCD so even though there are black bars on the side of the monitor when viewing 4:3 content, the actual displayed size is roughly the same. Just with black bars on the side. Where is shines is viewing widescreen content and for newer games that support widescreen resolutions.


My next LCD is going to replace my 21" CRT. Actually I have a few spare 20 and 21" CRT's and they are huge and heavy. My next LCD will be widescreen and at least 24" but that's a while off as I'm waiting for a 24" LCD to really wow me.

 

[fatpat268]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus

Originally posted by: fatpat268
What I don't get, is why monitor manufacturers are switching from 4:3 to 5:4. What's the advantage of this?

Um...I didn't know that they were. Out of the typical computer monitor resolutions, 1280x1024 is an oddball resolution at 5:4 instead of 4:3. 17" and 19" nonwidescreen monitors use 5:4 because they wan to support 1280x1024. The 4:3 resolution would be 1280x960, but no one uses it for no apparent reason.

Well... it's not that they're necessarily switching, but a majority of lcd monitors out there are 17 and 19 inches, and almost all of them have a 1280x1024 resolution.

Then again, I'm starting to see more lcds (mainly notebooks so far) with a 1440x1050 resolution.

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: fatpat268

Originally posted by: nullpointerus

Originally posted by: fatpat268
What I don't get, is why monitor manufacturers are switching from 4:3 to 5:4. What's the advantage of this?

Um...I didn't know that they were. Out of the typical computer monitor resolutions, 1280x1024 is an oddball resolution at 5:4 instead of 4:3. 17" and 19" nonwidescreen monitors use 5:4 because they wan to support 1280x1024. The 4:3 resolution would be 1280x960, but no one uses it for no apparent reason.

Well... it's not that they're necessarily switching, but a majority of lcd monitors out there are 17 and 19 inches, and almost all of them have a 1280x1024 resolution.

(Didn't I just say this?)

 

[Dribble]

Originally posted by: nullpointerus

Originally posted by: fatpat268
What I don't get, is why monitor manufacturers are switching from 4:3 to 5:4. What's the advantage of this?

Um...I didn't know that they were. Out of the typical computer monitor resolutions, 1280x1024 is an oddball resolution at 5:4 instead of 4:3. 17" and 19" nonwidescreen monitors use 5:4 because they wan to support 1280x1024. The 4:3 resolution would be 1280x960, but no one uses it for no apparent reason.

CRT's are nearly all 4:3 but for some reason when they started making LCD's they switched to 5:4.
The reason that for a given diagonal a widescreen is smaller is because you get a bigger screen area the closer to a perfect square you get. Hence for screen area at the same diagonal size 5:4 > 4:3 > 16:10.

 

[Crescent13]

Originally posted by: raildogg
I was in the same situation you are in a few weeks ago. I looked at screen size and was not too impressed with the 20' widescreen's vertical size. It is as big as a 17' LCD, so that is no good. So imagine how small a 19' widescreen will be. I now want a 19' LCD because its a better buy due to size and a more mainstream resolution.

Plus, 1680 x 1050 is an odd resolution. I'm sure it can be great for RTS games, which I play, but not sure if it'll be good for text reading. I think for now a 1280 x 1024 will be good enough.

I don't know what you're talking about. I Love my NEC 20WMGX2! It is 1680x1050, and it's awesome for text reading!!

 

[Dribble]

Originally posted by: Crescent13

Originally posted by: raildogg
I was in the same situation you are in a few weeks ago. I looked at screen size and was not too impressed with the 20' widescreen's vertical size. It is as big as a 17' LCD, so that is no good. So imagine how small a 19' widescreen will be. I now want a 19' LCD because its a better buy due to size and a more mainstream resolution.

Plus, 1680 x 1050 is an odd resolution. I'm sure it can be great for RTS games, which I play, but not sure if it'll be good for text reading. I think for now a 1280 x 1024 will be good enough.

I don't know what you're talking about. I Love my NEC 20WMGX2! It is 1680x1050, and it's awesome for text reading!!

It's a much better resolution for text reading as 5:4 is a bad shape for a portrait documents -you can view one page but have space left on either side. 16*10 is almost ideal to view two pages at once (like you would reading a book).

 

[Crescent13]

Originally posted by: Dribble

Originally posted by: Crescent13

Originally posted by: raildogg
I was in the same situation you are in a few weeks ago. I looked at screen size and was not too impressed with the 20' widescreen's vertical size. It is as big as a 17' LCD, so that is no good. So imagine how small a 19' widescreen will be. I now want a 19' LCD because its a better buy due to size and a more mainstream resolution.

Plus, 1680 x 1050 is an odd resolution. I'm sure it can be great for RTS games, which I play, but not sure if it'll be good for text reading. I think for now a 1280 x 1024 will be good enough.

I don't know what you're talking about. I Love my NEC 20WMGX2! It is 1680x1050, and it's awesome for text reading!!

It's a much better resolution for text reading as 5:4 is a bad shape for a portrait documents -you can view one page but have space left on either side. 16*10 is almost ideal to view two pages at once (like you would reading a book).

Excactly!